Every movement sent pain coursing through my body. The previous night I had my first college party.
We had all gotten drunk while listening to old music, I had tried to get laid, and failed. Wouldnt have been something I really cared about if it hadn't been Anna, a girl Id loved for years, considered a friend for years. I got drunk, I made a move that Id hoped would define my future, our future.
She politely turned me down, saying she wasn't looking for sex, or a relationship before she left with someone else that same night. I decided my best option was to drink the pain away.
I awoke crucified to a piece of wood in the burning fucking desert. The hangover was quickly overshadowed by the pain. Who would do something like this to me?
I wasn't always the nicest person to everyone around me, but I never made the kind of enemy that would do all of this.
The first hour I screamed myself hoarse, begging and praying for aid. The scouring winds and burning sun killed my voice before any aid arrived.
The thirst was worse than anything I had ever experienced, my throat swelled as it dried, making breathing difficult as some infection took its hold on me.
I had no idea how long it had been before the voices of my so-called friends started to taunt me.
"Lazy" They called me "Pathetic" "Stupid" Anna's voice was among them, laughing at my hope in her, my desire for her love.
How could she love someone like me? Someone who had lived life too afraid to tell her my feelings, to lazy to become someone special, someone, who could accomplish something.
"You thought you could have me? Ha!, what a laugh! Why would I want you when a real man could come along anytime now?
Anna was beautiful, smart, and dedicated, it only made sense she wouldn't want someone like me. It still hurt to hear her repeat it to me every day.
I told myself what they were saying was fake, a fevered illusion caused by this dessert. But it felt more real as time went on.
I tried to argue with them for so long, to tell them they were no better or worse than I was, but laughter was always my only answer.
I grew to hate my friends as time went on, hating Anna the most for leaving me that night, for abandoning me to whatever Pyscho took me here.
When I was sure I was dying, when I was certain I could go no longer, a figure appeared before me. One I could recognize as the man who left with Anna at the party. He was one of those perfect men you saw on magazines, strong arms supported by a perfectly defined chest, the kind you could see even when they wore a loose shirt.
"She's mine now John, you grew up to be a nobody, she grew up to be class president, she grew up to have straight A's, and she grew up with a perfect body. Why do you think those perfect tits, that succulent ass left with me?"
In my rage I found my voice again, I screamed at the figure before me with a broken call more belonging to a beast than a man.
As I looked at his smug visage smile at me on the cross all I could do was pull and tug with strength born of absolute loathing.
"I am notweak! I amnotpathetic!, and I am not a nobody! I tore my hands away from the nails and bindings on my form, feeling the burning pain as my untreated wounds were aggravated yet again.
I pulled my legs from there bindings below me, and I fell to the soft sand below me. The only reason I did not embrace the comforting softness below me was the hate I felt for this man.
When I stood on shaking, bleeding legs I realized he was gone, that he had been a mirage created by this dessert. I hated him none the less.
I used it as a weapon to drag myself forward in spite of the feelings my body was giving me, in spite of its desperate requests for me to give up.
I crawled along a shattered road, worn down by the sand. I could see several desolate structures pass me by as I walked, some covered in writings I did not recognize, others simply too worn down to be able to make out.
I finally stood after the pain numbed, following the path with what speed I could manage. For hours I walked until I saw green before me, an oasis of palm trees as far as the eyes could see. Within it, I could hear the rushing, flowing sound of water.
I stumbled as fast as I could after that perfect sound, hoping and praying this wasn't another mirage. When I finally found the river I wept in joy at the sight, throwing myself at its edge and drinking with all my might.
When I pulled away, nearly 3 minutes later I felt like I was reborn, like I could do anything. The water I drank at that moment had flowed through me like a restorative elixir, my mind cleared, my throat while still hoarse felt far better, and a lot of the pain returned.
I stood, finally noticing the lands around me aside from the water, and gasped at the beauty of it all. A great oasis stretched before me, filled with exotic creatures I could scarcely recognize, and ones I knew shouldn't exist.
Before me was a herd of turtle-like creatures larger than men, walking on large limbs like a gorilla would, eating the grass and plant life around me.
I felt a scream nearly escape my throat before I found myself speaking to the creatures around me.
"Where the fuck am I?"